Method and apparatus for supporting a semiconductor wafer during processing

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor wafer is processed while being supported without mechanical contact. Instead, the wafer is supported by gas streams emanating from a large number of passages in side sections positioned very close to the upper and lower surface of the wafer. The gas heated by the side sections and the heated side sections themselves quickly heat the wafer to a desired temperature. Process gas directed to the “device side” of the wafer can be kept at a temperature that will not cause deposition on that side section, but yet the desired wafer temperature can be obtained by heating non-process gas from the other side section to the desired temperature. A plurality of passages around the periphery of the wafer on the non-processed side can be employed to provide purge gas flow that prevents process gas from reaching the non-processed side of the wafer and the adjacent area of that side section.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. Application Ser. No. 09/717,702, filed Nov. 20, which is a continuation of U.S. Application Ser. No. 09/227,564, filed Jan. 8, 1999 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,565, issued Feb. 6, 2001), which is a continuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT/NL97/00398, filed Jul. 8, 1997, which claims priority from Netherlands Patent Appln. No. 1003538, filed Jul. 8, 1996.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to a method for contactless treatment of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, comprising enclosing the wafer in an apparatus and applying two gas streams, in opposing directions, from first and second side sections located opposite on another, to the two opposing planar sides or surfaces of the wafers.

[0003] A method of this general type is disclosed in Netherlands Laid Open Application 8402410, in which furthermore, reference is made to Netherlands laid Open Applications 8103979, 8200753 and 8203318.

[0004] From these publications it is known to position a wafer such that it is floating between the two side sections. If the gas flow is suitably chosen, it has been found that a highly accurate definition of the position of the wafer with respect to the side sections is possible and this position is relatively fixed, that is to say little variation occurs in the position of the wafer with respect to the side sections. In the patent publications concerned it is described that the wafer is subjected to a wet treatment and is then possibly dried. For the purposes of drying, the gas which holds the wafer in place is heated to about 100° C. and is moved over the surface of the wafer, as a result of which the moisture present is automatically removed.

[0005] Heating to much higher temperatures in the range of 200°-1200° C. is frequently necessary when treating semiconductor substrates. Heating can involve annealing or raising the temperature to make deposition or other processes possible. In the prior art, wafers are to this end placed in furnaces and then heated. Although this method is adequate, it has at least two disadvantages. Firstly, a method of this type is usually not completely contactless, that is to say certain points of the wafer are supported. Secondly, it takes a relatively long time to heat a wafer. This is due not so much to the thermal capacity of the wafer itself as to the relatively slow heat transfer between the furnace and the wafers and to the fact that in order to achieve a controlled, deformation free heating of the wafers, the wafers need to be heated inside the furnace together with the furnace itself

[0006] In order to solve this problem single wafer systems have been disclosed with which rapid heating was achieved with the aid of high power lamps (50-80 Kw). Such a method is particularly expensive and difficult to control.

[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,918 discloses an apparatus wherein a wafer is fed through between a number of columns located some distance apart. Sets of columns located opposite one another, between which the wafer moves,, are likewise some distance apart. In the gap between the sets of columns, heating is effected by means of a lamp some distance away. This apparatus has the drawback that due to the presence of many metal parts with complicated constructions in close proximity to the wafer, only heating to limited temperatures is possible. Furthermore, in this apparatus a wafer is supported by a plurality of columns of air streams with gaps in between the columns. Due to the succession of columns, where the wafer is supported, and gaps between the columns where the wafer is exposed to the heat radiation of the lamps, both the support of the wafer and the heating are not homogeneous.

[0008] It has been found that only limited heating can take place effectively by heating the gases, as is described in the above-mentioned Netherlands applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The aim of the present invention is to provide a method with which contactless heating of semiconductor substrates to relatively high temperature within a relatively short time is possible.

[0010] This aim is achieved by enclosing a wafer between relatively massive side sections of an apparatus and applying gas streams to opposite planar sides of a wafer. Preferably the side sections include plates having a minimum thickness of about 10 mm with the spacing between each of the side sections and the wafer to be at most about 1.0 mm Further, at least one of the side sections is heated to a temperature higher than 200° C.

[0011] Surprisingly, it has been found that if the spacing between the side sections, or between side section and wafer, is set to be relatively small, particularly rapid heat transfer can take place. It is possible to achieve heating to far about 1000° C. within a few seconds. Because with this arrangement the wafer, in principle, does not have to be supported, but is held accurately and definitively in its place by the gas streams, the wafer will also not be subjected to stresses generated by local temperature differences and distortion will be prevented as far as possible. Incidentally, it is pointed out that if a slight degree of distortion does take place, the stabilizing effect of the gas streams in opposing directions is such that the wafer is pressed straight in a ‘gentle’ manner without damage.

[0012] Therefore, it is now possible to keep the apparatus at the process temperature and load the wafer while the side sections are at process temperature without damage for the wafer. As a consequence, a particularly small peak power is needed to achieve such rapid heating of wafer because the energy required to heat the wafer is withdrawn from the side sections. It will be understood that the method described above is outstandingly suitable for processes in which wafers are treated one-by-one (‘single wafer processing’). However, it is also possible to treat large numbers of wafers one after the other or parallel to one another in the manner described above.

[0013] Introduction of the wafer into the enclosing apparatus described above can be effected in any way known from the prior art. A particularly simple method is that in which the side sections can be moved apart. The wafer can be placed between the side sections when the latter have been apart. Supporting means can optionally be present to fix the wafer in such a position. The side sections then move towards one another and the function of the supporting means can be taken over by the gas stream moving out of the side sections concerned. As a result, the wafer moves away from the supporting means.

[0014] Apart from heating the semiconductor substrate in this way it is also possible to carry out treatments on the substrate, such as oxidation etching or the deposition of layers. to this end it is possible to mix a gaseous medium with the gas which holds the wafer in its place. Of course, it is also possible to position the wafer using process gas only. This is in contrast to what is described and suggested in the above-mentioned Netherlands Applications, where only wet treatment of the related substrate takes place. This process gas can be supplied, uniformly distributed, from one of the side sections, such that a uniform distribution over the related wafer surface takes place.

[0015] One of the problems encountered in the prior art when supplying process gas at elevated temperature and more particularly when depositing layers is that the apparatus and more particularly when depositing layers is that the apparatus used to supply the process gas becomes contaminated by deposition of the material concerned from the process gas. This means that apparatuses of this type have to be cleaned regularly and that major problems arise with regard to clogging.

[0016] With the method according to the invention it is possible to prevent these problems. This is because, according to a further embodiment of this method, a temperature difference is applied over the wafer. One of the side sections is heated to a relatively high temperature, whilst the other of the side sections is heated to a relatively low temperature. It has been found that, as a result of the thermal behavior of the enclosing apparatus, the wafer will assume a temperature which is dependent on the position of the wafer with respect to the two heated side sections. If the two side sections are equidistant from the wafer and the same gas is present on both sides, the temperature will fairly accurately be the average of the values of the temperatures of each of the side sections.

[0017] If, by controlling one or both gas streams, the wafer is not located centrally between the two side sections, the temperature will change correspondingly.

[0018] If different types of gas are used, that is to say gases having different thermal conduction properties, a change in temperature will likewise take place. For example, when argon is used on one side and hydrogen is used on the other side it has been found that transfer between the relevant side section and the wafer is ten times between on the side where hydrogen is supplied.

[0019] Consequently, by means of a suitable choice of the temperatures concerned, it is possible to provide the side section from which the process gas is emitted with a temperature such that no deposition takes place on such side section, whilst the wafer is at a temperature which is so much higher that deposition does take place on such wafer.

[0020] It has been found that the rate of deposition of, for example, polysilicon from silane on a substrate is lower by a factor of 350 at 700 K and a partial pressure of 0.4 torr than at 900 K. This means that by controlling the temperature, deposition is negligible on the side section from which the process gas is supplied and which is at low temperature.

[0021] With this arrangement it is possible, in the starting position, to place the wafer with the ‘device side’ of the wafer towards the side section which is at the lowest temperature, through which side section the process gas is subsequently supplied. As a result of supplying the reactive gases, the wafer is moved towards the side section at the higher temperature and, on assuming the higher temperature, deposition accordingly, takes place. The reverse set-up is also possible. That is to say, the side section from which the gas emanates is at a higher temperature than the opposite side section. In this case, the ‘device side’ of the wafer faces the side section which is at the lower temperature and the Bernoulli principle can be used by allowing the correct gas stream to flow against the top of the wafer. With this arrangement a reduced pressure is created beneath the wafer, which reduced pressure ensures that the wafer will float (in a stable manner) beneath the top side section. The hot (bottom) side section is then raised until the process situation is achieved.

[0022] It has been found that appreciable temperature differences between the related side section and the wafer are possible using the construction described above. A value of at least 150° C. and more particularly 200° C. may be mentioned by way of example.

[0023] With the method according to the invention, these values can be set very accurately. After all, it has been found that these values are mainly dependent on the position of the wafer in the enclosing apparatus. As already indicated above, the position of the wafer in the tunnel-like apparatus is accurately related to the quantity and type of gas supplied from the related side sections.

[0024] The invention also relates to an apparatus with which the above method can be carried out in all its alternative embodiments. In this apparatus at least one of the side sections is provided with heating means for heating the section(s) to above 250° C. It has been found that relatively small peak power is needed to achieve relatively fast heating of a wafer. It is in particular the high thermal capacity of the side section concerned, which is of importance for the stability of the process.

[0025] The related side section can be provided with a number of spaced gas feed channels in order to provide uniform metering of the gas and more particularly process gas.

[0026] In a simple embodiment which is particularly suitable for deposition purposes, a very large number of injection points must be present. A construction of this type can, for example, be achieved by providing porous plates.

[0027] The invention will be explained below with reference to an illustrative embodiment shown in the drawing. In the drawing:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028]FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically, an apparatus according to the invention in the position in which the semiconductor substrate is introduced.

[0029]FIG. 2 shows part of the apparatus after introduction of the semiconductor substrate; and

[0030]FIG. 3 shows a graph in which the rate of heating of the semiconductor substrate is shown for the apparatus according to FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0031] In FIG. 1, the apparatus according to the invention is indicated in its entirety by 1. This apparatus is provided with an inlet 4, which can be connected, in a manner not shown in more detail, to a ‘load lock’ or a cluster system for further treatment of semiconductor substrates.

[0032] The actual apparatus according to the invention, consisting of top and bottom or first and second side sections 6 and 7, respectively, is accommodated in a pressure vessel 2 for carrying out a process in a specific environment or under elevated or reduced pressure.

[0033] The first side section 6 is joined rigidly to the pressure vessel 2. A heating coil 8, which is connected to a control 5, is mounted inside the first side section. A gas supply line 12 is also present, which gas supply line is connected to the gas feeds 10 which comprise a number of uniformly distributed passages.

[0034] It must be understood that in practice a very much larger number of passages will generally be used, which passages are each very much smaller than is shown. For the sake of clarity, the various features have been shown in exaggerated form in the drawing. It is desirable that there be at least 20 holes for a 200 mm diameter wafer and preferably there would be about 64. With a larger wafer there should of course be more passages. The hole diameter should be no greater than about 2 mm, and preferably is about 25 mm.

[0035] Side section 6 is provided at its periphery with centering chamfers 13. As can be seen from FIG. 2, these serve for enclosure of a semiconductor substrate or wafer 3 by extending beyond the periphery of the wafer.

[0036] Second side section 7 is constructed correspondingly. Supporting pins 11 for supporting the semiconductor substrate extend through the second side section 7.

[0037] As can be seen from FIG. 2, the various features are so dimensioned that when the two side sections are in the closed position, that is to say in the position in which the spacing between each of the sections and the wafer is set to be at most about 1 mm, the semiconductor substrate 3 is no longer supported by the supporting pins 11 but by the gas streams which flow through the holes 10 towards the semiconductor substrate 3 from both side sections.

[0038] It will be understood that the various features are dependent on the application concerned.

[0039] Gas passages 10 in the second side section 7 are connected to a gas supply line 14, which is connected to a source 15.

[0040] The apparatus described above functions as follows:

[0041] Starting from the situation shown in FIG. 1, the wafer 3 is placed on the supporting pins 11, as is also shown in FIG. 2. The second side Section 7 is then moved up and the situation as shown in FIG. 2 is obtained. The wafer 3 is accurately positioned in the center between the two side sections 6 and 7 by the gas streams issuing from the passages 10 in the two side sections. Deviation in the position is possible by means of adjusting the gas flow.

[0042] The side sections are preferably formed by relatively massive plates so as to have high heat capacity. Plates should have a minimum thickness of about 10 mm, and preferably about 60 mm. The side sections are heated by the heating elements 8 and 9, and it has been found that this heat is transferred to the wafer with negligible loss. In practice, it has been found that almost immediately after it enters the gap between the side sections 6 and 7 the wafer assumes the temperature thereof. This is in a situation in which the temperature of the side sections 6 and 7 is identical. Such an example is shown in FIG. 3. In this case both side sections have been heated to a temperature of approximately 1200° C. It has been found that the wafer 3 has the same temperature within four seconds. Because the wafer 3 is not supported and is heated uniformly, no thermal stresses will be produced as a result of which there is no question of distortion.

[0043] At such an elevated temperature it is possible to anneal the wafer or to carry out an oxidizing reducing treatment. In the latter case the relevant gases are supplied as process gases through the passages.

[0044] Apart from furnaces, radiation lamps are also used in the prior art, the wafer being positioned on, a bearing surface. Apart from the above-mentioned risk of distortion as a result of non-uniform heating caused by removal of heat to the support point, the heating rate is relatively slow. Values of 5-10°/s are not uncommon if the wafer is on a susceptor. In all other cases,m values of 50-100°/s have been found.

[0045] In certain cases it is, however, desirable to subject the wafer to a deposition treatment. The case in which a process gas, from which material has to deposit on the wafer, is present in source 15 is chosen as an example here. To prevent the passages 10 in the second side section 7 from becoming clogged by premature deposition of material from the process gas concerned, it is proposed to bring the first side section 6 to a relatively high temperature and the second side section 7 to a relatively low temperature with the aid of control 5.

[0046] If, for example, for polysilicon the deposition temperature of material from the silane gas issuing from source 15 is 625° C. (900 K), it is proposed to heat the first side section 6 to a temperature of 1100 K and the second side section 7 to a temperature of approximately 700 K. At 700 K virtually no deposition of material from the gas will take place, so that the passages 10 concerned will not clog. However the wafer is found accurately to assume a temperature which is midway between that of the first side section 6 and that of the second side section 7, this being the desired temperature of 900 K. As a result of the flow of the gases shown (FIG. 2), it is largely precluded that gas issuing from the second side section 7 will enter the first hot side section 6 and deposit there. In any event it has not been found that passages 10 in the first side section 6 clog.

[0047] In the case of a deposition treatment of this type it is not uncommon first to supply an inert gas and then to supply the treatment gas. This is represented symbolically by showing a number of gas bottles at 15 and the quantity or mixing ratio or type of gas supplied to the line 12 or 14 can be controlled by means of control means, which are not shown in more detail.

[0048] Close to the end sections of the side sections, the upper side section is provided with a large number of gas passages, whilst this it not the case for side section 7. In this way an accurately controlled gas purge flowing radially outwards can be provided and deposition on section 6 prevented.

[0049] If the side section 7 is at a lower temperature, it is not necessary to use the pins described above. The wafer can be placed directly on side section 7. In such a case it is not even desirable to use pins, because in a set up of this type the ‘device side’ faces downwards.

[0050] It has been found that a very small amount of gas is needed with the method described above. An amount of between 0.1 and 25 litres per second under standard conditions under a pressure in the vessel which is between 1 torr and 1 atom may be mentioned here as an example. The various aspects are wholly dependent on the process conditions.

[0051] When the treatment is compete, the side sections can be moved away from one another again and the wafer removed. Cooling takes place equally as rapidly as heating without any damage over the entire extent of the wafer.

[0052] It must be understood that the relative sizes shown in the figures are incorrect and have been introduced for the sake of clarity. Thus, the diameter of a typical wafer is approximately 150-200 mm and the thickness approximately 0.7 mm. The distance between a wafer and the surface of the relevant side sections from which gases issue is of the order of magnitude of one or a few tenths of millimeters.

[0053] It is possible to impose a rotary movement on the wafer, as a result of which an even more uniform treatment is provided.

[0054] Such a rotation can, for example, be achieved by positioning one or more of the channels 10 at an angle with respect to the vertical, as a result of which a spiral gas flow is generated.

[0055] These and further variants are obvious to a person skilled in the art after reading the above description and fall within the scope of the appended claims. 

We claim:
 1. A pair of blocks for a reactor for thermal processing of a substrate, comprising: a first reactor block configured to extend across a top major surface of the substrate, the first reactor block having a first plurality of gas passages configured to face the top major surface, and wherein the first reactor block has a thickness perpendicular to the substrate of greater than about 10 mm; a second reactor block configured to extend across a bottom major surface of the substrate, the second reactor block having a second plurality of gas passages configured to face the bottom major surface, and wherein the second reactor block has a thickness perpendicular to the substrate of greater than about 10 mm; and wherein the first and the second reactor blocks are configured to surround a substrate with gas cushions to suspend the substrate between the first and the second reactor blocks upon assembly of the first and the second reactor blocks in the reactor and upon retention of the substrate therebetween.
 2. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein a first spacing between the first reactor block and the top major surface of the substrate and a second spacing between the second reactor block and the bottom major surface of the substrate when a substrate occupies a space between the first reactor block and the second reactor block are at most about 1.0 mm upon assembly of the first and the second reactor blocks in the reactor and upon retention of the substrate therebetween.
 3. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first or second blocks further comprises a resistive heater, the heater capable of heating the at least one of the first or second blocks to at least about 200° C. to thereby heat the substrate.
 4. The pair of blocks of claim 3, wherein the heater is positioned and configured to heat the block to at least about 250° C.
 5. The pair of blocks of claim 4, wherein the heater is positioned and configured to heat the block to at least about 1,000° C.
 6. The pair of blocks of claim 5, wherein the heater is positioned and configured to heat the block to about 1,200° C.
 7. The pair of blocks of claim 3, wherein the heater comprises a heating coil.
 8. The pair of blocks of claim 7, wherein the heater is configured to heat the substrate from a non-reactive temperature to a reactive temperature for treating the substrate.
 9. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein the substrate-holding blocks are configured to have sufficient heat capacity so that, when heated, heat is transferred to an unheated substrate loaded between the substrate-holding blocks with negligible temperature loss from the substrate-holding blocks.
 10. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein the first and second plurality of gas passages each comprises at least 20 holes.
 11. The pair of blocks of claim 10, wherein the holes each have a diameter of no more than about 2 mm.
 12. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of gas passages are distributed across first reactor block to produce a uniform distribution of gas to the top major surface and the second plurality of gas passages are distributed across the second reactor block to produce a second uniform distribution of gas to the bottom major surface upon assembly of the first and the second reactor blocks in the reactor and upon retention of the substrate therebetween.
 13. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of gas passages extends closer towards a first perimeter of the first reactor block than the second plurality of gas passages extends to a second perimeter of the second reactor block.
 14. The pair of blocks of claim 1, wherein the first reactor block has a first centering chamfer configured to surround an edge of the substrate and the second reactor block has a second centering chamfer configured to also surround the edge of the substrate.
 15. A wafer-holding block for supporting a wafer inside a reactor, comprising: a wall having a planar surface for facing the wafer, the planar surface at least as wide as a major surface of the wafer; a plurality of gas passages on the planar surface, the gas passages configured to supply gas to the major surface of the wafer, wherein an opening of each of the gas passages is no more than about 2 mm in width; and wherein the wafer-holding block is configured to interface with a second wafer-holding block positioned opposite the wafer-holding block such that the wafer-holding block extends across the major surface of the wafer and the second wafer-holding block extends across an opposite major surface of the wafer upon assembly of the reactor and retention of the wafer.
 16. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the wall is at least about 10 mm deep.
 17. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the wall is about 60 mm deep.
 18. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the wall comprises porous plates, wherein the porous plates provide the gas passages.
 19. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the gas passages are configured to be connected to a source of gas for deposition on the wafer.
 20. The wafer-holding block of claim 19, wherein the opening of each of the plurality of gas passages is about 0.25 mm in width.
 21. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the plurality of gas passages comprises at least 20 holes.
 22. The wafer-holding block of claim 21, wherein the plurality of gas passages comprises about 64 holes.
 23. The wafer-holding block of claim 21, wherein at least some of the gas passages are configured to be in gas communication with a source gas for a process selected from the group consisting of oxidation, etching and deposition.
 24. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the wafer-holding block is provided with a heater.
 25. The wafer-holding block of claim 15, wherein the wafer-holding block is configured to interface with the second wafer-holding block wafer upon assembly of the reactor and retention of the wafer so that a first spacing between the wafer-holding block and a first major surface of the wafer and a second spacing between the second wafer-holding block and a second major surface of the wafer when a wafer occupies a space between the wafer-holding block and the second wafer-holding block are at most about 1.0 mm.
 26. The wafer-holding block of claim 25, configured to be movable relative to the second wafer-holding block.
 27. The wafer-holding block of claim 25, massive enough that, when each of the wafer-holding blocks have been heated to a temperature of approximately 1200° C., an unheated semiconductor wafer loaded therebetween reaches substantially the same temperature within four seconds of loading.
 28. A wafer-supporting block for thermally processing a wafer, comprising: a plate configured to extend across a major surface of the wafer, the plate having a thickness perpendicular to the wafer of greater than about 10 mm; a plurality of distributed gas passages in the plate and configured to face the wafer and capable of creating a supporting gas cushion between the plate and the wafer during thermal processing; and a resistive heater capable of heating the plate to at least about 200° C. to thereby heat the wafer, wherein a heat capacity of the wafer-supporting block is sufficiently high so that when the wafer-supporting block is heated, heat is transferred to an unheated wafer loaded proximate the wafer-holding block with negligible temperature loss from the wafer-supporting block.
 29. The wafer-supporting block of claim 28, further comprising a raised centering edge on the plate configured to surround an edge of the wafer. 